STEAMERjIN A TIDAL WAVE AN ALARMING EPPERIENCE. COMET BLAMED FOR THE DIS : TURBANCE. ' - The steamer Port Chalmers, of the Anglo-Australian Steam Navigation 1 Company's line, which arrived at Adelaide from London on Wednesday last, had a ' ' sensational experience during the voyage. She appears to have been nearly swamped by a mountainous tidal wave. The ex citing incident happened as the steamer was rounding the Cape of Good Hope. From leaving London, on 1st April, to the vicinity of the Cape, beautifully fin6 '. ? '. weather ruled, but^conditionirthen.com-' pletely changed and bad weather set in. On the evening of Saturday, 23rd April, in a heavy gale, which. -#as experienced, strong squalls, with dense fains, passed over the steamer, which labored heavily in high seas, and shipped water fore and aft. The tidal wave struck the Port Chalmers about 3 a.m. on the following Monday. The captain, G. E. Warren, and the second officer, H. L. Stirling, were on the bridge at the time. In th...

SHIPPING. The s.8. Westralia left Hobart at 11.15 p.m. on Monday, for Sydney, where she ? is due to-night. She -will sail on Tuesday next on the return voyage, The New Zealand Coy's liner Ruahine, ?was due at Hobart yesterday. After loading cargo she continues her voyage from London to Wellington. ' The 8.s. Matai leaves Melbourne this afternoon for Hobart, being due there early on Friday morning. She sails the same day for New Zealand ports. The 8.8. Paloona, from Sydney, is due .. at Hobart to-morrow. She will sail at 9 p.m. on Monday on the return trip.

THE NATIONAL MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRAL ASIA LTD. Are issuing Children's Endowment Policies With New GUARANTEED INCOME FEATURES. These Policies become fully paid up in the event of 'the death of parent or guardian. Rates will be supplied on application. LADY A&amp;ENTS can find lucrative occupation in the-: work of insuring .women' and that of the Endowment of Children, e , JAMES S. INCH, V /? ' Manager for Tasmania. C. 33. TOOVEY, . , ' ^\ ^District Inspector,

TS known all over Tasmania as absolutely the best watch obtainable at a reason J- ' ? able outlay — specially designed for hard rough wear. The price is 2 0/-, and it is guaranteed for 28 years, and kept in order free of charge fo 2 years -? ?? . A. - BUTTEKFIELD, .. .'. ?JEWELLER AND OPTICIAN, 101 ELIZABETH STREET, HOBART TELEPHONE 385.

..STEAMER. '- ?? — ? '- ? O ? For Huon-Hobart Service. A Handsome Vessel. The enterprise of the Huon Channel and Peninsula Steamship Company . Limited in catering for the tourist and - passenger traffic generally has been well ' evidenced in previous years (says a morning contemporary), but the step taken recently in ordering another addi tion to their fleet marks a distinctly for ward movement, and one that calls for the warmest commendation. The new' boat, which will be the largest, and doubtless the speediest, on the river; has been built by that well-known firm, Messrs Purdan and Featherstone, Bat tery Point, whose name is a guarantee of faithful workmanship. The keel was laid towards the end cf last year, and though the time for delivery was not till July, the vessel has been ready for launching some days, and the ceremony has been delayed for some of the machinery, which only arrived yester day by the R.M.S. Ruahine. The new' boat was designed by Mr T. Purdon (the senior partn...

South Franklin Athletic Club. Meeting, of Committee. A meeting of the commitee of the South Franklin- Athletic Club was held in the Town Hall . on Monday evening, There were' present — Messrs. W' F. Casey (chairman), W. J. Thomas, Capt. Fitzpatrick, D. E. Ryan, M. O'Beirne, P. itJonelly, W, Garr, V, Grigga, W. Fitz patriok', and the Secretary (Mr J. White). The Secretary produced his statement of accounts in connection with the annual apuris iiieBwiig, wmen snowed a sub stantial credit balance. The Chairman congratulated the com mittee on the immense success of the sports, 'and dwelt- at some length' upon the distinction it conferred upon this dis trict, in that it excelled all other sports meetings Jjpld in the State so far as the 'prize,mon'6y for' tlip various evonts, was concerned, and in only two other in stances in tho whole of tho Common wealth was tho amount of money dis ributed in one clay greater. It was pleasing also to find- the visiting athletes adding their testimony t...

FOOTBALL. Franklin Association. The second match of the season was played on Watson's Recrea tion Ground on Saturday after noon under ideal conditions. The light rains which had -fallen during the morning had just softened the ground sufficiently, whilfi thfi woather which pre vailed throughout the afternoon was distinctly favorable, at least, from the players' standpoint. At one period during the game a light shower fell, but it was of short duration, and made no material difference to the play. The competing teams were the Rovers, who went down before Union on the Drevious Saturday, and United, who made their' first appearance on the field. Rovers on this occasion succeeded in mustering a full team, and United also was fully represented. The result was that a keenly con tested match, full of interest from the spectacular standpoint, resulted,- as the scores indicate. At no period of the game did the disparity between the respective totals exceed 5 points, with the inevitable resul...

English Fruit Market. » ' ? — ' *+ — ! — The Australian Shipments. In reviewing^hd English Fruit Market, the London correspondent of the -Sydney 'Daily Telegraph' writes :—.' The AuSt tralian apple season has not started too' well, chiefly on account of the unsatis factory quality of the fruit. The first shipment, in the Osterley, carried well, but there were many immature apples, and bitter pit was prevalent to a serious degr,ea in both Australian and Taamanian parcels. The eaine fault was noticeable ae-ain in the apiJies ' which arrived this week in the Malwa, and these had thp additional disadvantage of being landed in poor condition. The softer sorts were all more o? less wasty, and Covent Gar den opinion waa almost unanimous that they had been overheated. The Malwa brought 206 cases of apples from Npw South Wales, chiefly from the Bathurst' Experimental Farm, These arrived in fairly good condition, and made prices about equal to those from Victoria and South Australia. The Jona...

THE PLAY. With the ball in.mo'tion Somers was the. .first to show out. ' He made a dash. into the opposing side's citadel, but was inter cepted by M. Hay.. For the moment tjhe attack was repelled, but L. Hay, by clever work;, got possession of the ball and for-' warded, Somers, by neat'play,; baffled two of his opponents and notched hrst point, some vigor ous play . ensued on the bottom wing, which culminated in H. Hay taking a long snapshot for goal, but he had the misfortune to hit the post. On th,e kick in the oval was rushed fast to the opposite end, but T. Casey missed a simple njark within shooting distance, and a gooc| scoring opr portunity was lost thereby. Again the blue and whites made a vigorous onslaught upon United's goal,, but they were held at bay by P. Wicks, whose work in defence was sound and attractive. The Rovers sustained their attack for the greater part of the quarter, but, chiefly owing to the reason above stated, they failed to once find the . opening. Only ...

THE HUONBAIL .. WAY.' \ -., — — — m The Proposed Flying Survey. HOBART, Tuesday A meeting of the Southern Tasmanian Railway League was held in the Mayor' s Room, iTown Hall, yesterday afternoon. Mr G. P. Fitzgerald presided over a fair attendance of members. ^ . The Secretary (Mr Crooke) referred to the fact tfiat tho policy recently pro pounded by the Premier contained no reference to railwav matters. It was probable that the line to the abattoirs would bo constructed, and also a new railway station for Hobart. These were purely administrative matters, but no mention was made of the work which the League was advocating, such as a rail way to the mineral fields of the West. Coast or the horticultural grounds of the Huon, which would lead to the develop ment of Southern Tasmania. Regarding tho survey to the Huon, a surveyor had been temporarily engaged to do the most difficult work. Regarding the collection, he found that local branches of foreign banks had given them no assistance, ...

LOVETT V. HASTINGS. WIN FOR THE LOCALS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LOVETT; Monday. The season was opened at Lovett on Saturday by. a match between Lovett and Hastings, played in Mr Robert Harvey's paddock. The weather was dull and chilly, but with the excep tion of a light shower that fell at half-time, rain held off. The visi tors were conveyed to Lovett by the steamer Ronnie, a fair coterie of supporters accompany ing them. A good deal of interest was manifested in the fixture, and an interesting game resulted in the home representatives winning by a good margin, the final scores being': — Lovett, 11 goals 4 behinds ; Hastings, 3 goals 5 behinds. The play, though not lacking determination and vigor, was characterised by a commendable friendly spirit throughout, there -being a notice able absence o~f any unnecessary roughness. \ - Those who showed attractive form among the local players were C. Moles, A. Kildea, and C. Burton, this trio being respon sible for the greatest share ...

'' SHIPMENT OF V; .??.. ' FRUIT. ::; UNCERTIFICATED FRUIT ON: SYDNEY MARKET. There is at presont on view at' ? the office of the Secretary of the Agricultural Dopartment (says a Hobart Contem porary), two samples of fruit which were taken from consignments recently for warded to the wharves for shipment to Sydney. One of the samples consist's of a half-case of pears, whilst the other is a basket of poars and apples taken from other consignments. The half-case is in a aisgraceiuL condition, as an tne fruit is mildewed, and many of tho pears are clinging together in masses of rottenness. The sample was taken from a consignment of 166 cases sent down for shipment last week by the Paloona, but seeing their condition, the inspector, Mr Grueber, refused to grant a certificate for them. The apple3 in the other sample were labelled ' French Crabs, large and clean.' The1 least that can bo said about the apples is that those that are large are not cloan, and those that are clean are not large...

Correspondence, - — ?-»? ? ; ? COMPFLSORY' SPRAYING. ' ' ' '' TO THE EDITOR; '' Sir,— I read with: -interest, a letter ap pearing in: the . last issue . of the 'Huoii Times ' over''- tho ??' signature, of Mr J. P. Ryan, referring -to spraying. The report submitted to tho Hu'on'Ccun cil.by the Inspector is not, in my opinion, a fair one to go- on in thi3 matter, be causc'he has never beon in the orchards referred to before the present year, and is therefore nof in a position to say what condition they were in before. Y6u' can not judge these orchards . by others ho ? visited for tho first time also this year. Further, to my knowledge, the Council s officers nover visited tho orchards :.that were sprayed, and it appears to me that the Council knew nothing about them. When they sprayed my orchard .they pronftsed to come and inspect it. later on in order to asaertain the results. -It seems to be nonsensical to spray for ex perimental purposes, and then to neglect to inspect the trees th...

IMPROVEMENTS TO LOVETT ROAD. .. Ou r Lovett correspondent writes : The road leading from the wharf up to the township has for rome time past been in the hands of the contractor' and exten sive improvements havo been carried out. It has beon widened considerably, and to day (Tuesday), the stone crusher arrived to start operations on the metal that is to be laid. Nobody is likely to claim that this work is premature, as the improve ments made are badly needed, and will be appreciated by those who use this par ticular thoroughfare.

LOOKING FOR PORTS. The New South Wales Government haa decided to appoint a Royal Commission to report exhaustively on the best means of linking up the tablelands and tho in terior with tho natural outlets on the seaboard, and to make recommendations for the general decentralisation of the railway traffic. It' is considered that in order to meet the growing requirements of producers, other ports than Sydney are required both on tho north and south coasts, and the business of the commission will be to find out which ports are the most suitable,

FREIGHT. ON FRUIT. Tho Fruitgrowers' Union held an in formal meoting on Monday morning/ when the committee appointed at the last meeting of the unk :i submitted its report with regard to the froight'eharged by the shipping companies: At the last rmeeting of the union the feeling was ex pressed that, though the freights had been reduced on tho termination of the coal strike, ? still they had not been brought down to what they were prior to tne strike. The committee reported that, as far as their inquiries wont, they were convinced that the freights had been reduced to the same figure, namely, 7J^d per case.' This was thought to be an excessive charge, and it was rosolved to approach the companies and see if the charge could not be reduced to Gd. per case. ? .

W. AUSTRALIA. KENTISH FARM BOYS. ENGAGEMENTS IN VICTORIA. The R.M.S. Osterley brings twenty Kentish farming lads as Australian immigrants under Gwynne's Kentish colonisation scheme, and they have all paid part of their fares, the balance being provided by Gwynne's organisation. They are/ bound for Victoria and South Australia. Une lad questioned sa,id ;— l am going to Victoria, I believe the farmers have applied for us. Some are . to get 5s. a week and keep for six months, then 7s. 6d. the next six months. At the end of twelve months there is to be a fresh agreement as to wages.'